McMillan backs Coombes '100 per cent' after claim of serious foul play against Leinster player 

TMO Colin Stanley could find no video evidence to back up an allegation Coombes was grabbed in the groin area but the incident will be referred to the match citing commissioner

HARD CONTACT: Munster's Gavin Coombes comes up against Leinster's Robbie Henshaw and Andrew Porter during the BKT United Rugby Championship clash between Leinster vs Munster. Pic: INPHO/Ben Brady

Clayton McMillan has said he backs Gavin Coombes "100 per cent" after the Munster No.8 made an allegation of serious foul play against a Leinster opponent during Saturday's 24-18 URC derby defeat at Aviva Stadium. 

Munster captain Tadhg Beirne had brought an allegation of foul play perpetrated against his No.8 to referee Andrew Brace’s attention late in the first half, after the back-rower claimed he had been grabbed in the groin area by a Leinster player. 

TMO Colin Stanley could find no video evidence to back up the allegation but the incident will be referred to the match citing commissioner with Leinster now facing a nervous wait. 

“It's one of those things that we leave in the hands of the powers that be,” Munster head coach McMillan said of the allegation.

“All I know is that I back our players 100 per cent that if they make an allegation like that, they wouldn't do it lightly, and that's not the sort of person Gavin is, so we'll see where that goes.” 

Leinster boss Leo Cullen was also asked about the incident and replied: “I can't see anything there, from what I can see…And obviously, if that is the accusation, like as in...But I'm not seeing anything on first view. So I don't know.

“It looked like he'd changed his mind halfway through that accusation as well. So I don't know.” 

Asked if he was suggesting Coombes had withdrawn his complaint, Cullen replied: “Well, that's the way it sounded, once the scrum was packing down. But I don't know. Obviously, once that accusation is made, it becomes a serious matter for the citing commissioner. So my comment is not going to help in any way here. But from what I've seen, I can't see anything.” 

Cullen admitted an accusation against one of his players was a headache he could do without: “Yeah, it's not ideal. So you'd want to be very clear if something's happened.”

Captain Beirne was left to rue his side’s poor discipline as they surrendered a 13-5 half-time lead at Aviva Stadium and Leinster rallied to a six-point victory.

McMillan’s side conceded 17 penalties and lost centre Alex Nankivell to a yellow card in the third quarter as champions Leinster scored 24 unanswered points to earn a bonus-point win before Munster full-back grabbed a late try to rescue a losing bonus point for the men in red.

Wing Shane Daly with a try and fly-half Charlie O’Shea’s conversion and two penalties had given Munster a 13-0 lead after 29 minutes before Leinster wing Tommy O’Brien got his side up and running with a try four minutes before the interval, engineered by a superb pass from long-range by man of the match Jamison Gibson-Park on his seasonal debut.

Flanker Ryan Baird, replacement back Charlie Tector and centre Jamie Osborne, another recipient of a Gibson-Park wonder pass, completed the comeback with Joey Carbery adding two conversions.

“You've got to give credit to Leinster,” Beirne said. “The wind was strong, we had the advantage in the first half, and they capitalised on that (in the second), but I think the discipline is probably something we need to work on, particularly the second half of games at the moment.

“We're kind of falling off a little bit and letting teams back into it through our ill-discipline, and it's just giving teams a little bit of momentum or even a little bit of belief against us and making it more difficult for ourselves.

“Ultimately, I thought the first half we were really good, but second half we just compounded errors on our end, whether it was a penalty or just an individual skill error like myself, the ball going straight through my hands in the lineout and they score not long after that.

“So yeah, I think if we can clean those up, we'll be in a much better place, but they did well to get the momentum and keep the foot on the pedal today.”